oldmouse blog minis; trackballs; tablets & touchpads; index / miscellanea
1960s: Engelbart's first mouse; Telefunken "Rollkugel"
1966: Orbit X-Y Ball Tracker
1970s: Mystery wheel mouse; Hawley Mouse House
1972: Alto I [2]
1981: Xerox 8010 Star [2]
1982: Logitech; VisiOn GUI; Mouse Systems; KoalaPad
1983: Hawley Mark II X063X; Lisa; Microsoft; Microsoft green-eyed mouse
1984: Macintosh
1985: NeXT Computer; Microsoft grey-eyed mouse
1986: Hawley DEC mouse; GEOS GUI; Atari ST mouse; Commodore 1350 Mouse
1987: IBM PS/2; Microsoft 'Dove bar' mouse
1996: USB (see: Connectors)

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MSC OMNIMOUSE Opto-Mechanical Mouse

Rectangular from the top, with blunted corners, the distinguishing two fat lozenze tan buttons seem retro even for 1988. They fit fingers nicely. With a high back and taper to the cord, the mouse almost emulates a little sports car. Its top label says MSC OMNIMOUSE.

The shape of the housing for the 1" diameter rubberized ball seems somehow reminiscent of an old arched jukebox. (It looks identical to the ball retainer on a Commodore mouse.) The ball rides at the rear of the mouse. A round glider sits at each of the 4 corners. The mouse attaches to the computer with a serial DE-9 hole plug. The little screws require a screwdriver rather than fingers to operate them.

A 5-1/2" floppy provides a V5. 52H 301989 OMNIMOUSE Opto-Mechanical Mouse driver © MSC 1988.

The little accordion-fold user's manual declares the mouse 100% Microsoft mouse-compatible, and, "The ability to use CAD, Business Graphics, Desktop Publishing, Word Processing, and Paint programs is literally in your hands." Nonetheless, installation seems to require some command line settings. Four drawings accompany written instructions for cleaning the rubber ball.

Bottom mouse label:

MSC 
Technologies, Inc.
OMNIMOUSE
NEO-CN1 0780
FCC ID: CWE5TDMM1
Made in Japan

Manual:

MSC User's Manual
OMNIMOUSE Opto-Mechanical Mouse
and 5 1/2" flopp driver V5.52H
(C) MSC 1988

MSC/Mouse Systems Omnimouse top with serial plug.

MSC/Mouse Systems Omnimouse side view.

MSC/Mouse Systems Omnimouse bottom.

MSC/Mouse Systems Omnimouse top.